Identity and Idolatry
The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of the Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary at our website or become a friend and supporter with access to more content at our Patreon.
Our thanks to Elliott Chamberlin who composed the opening music, "On the Road" and the closing music, "Seeking Together". You can find more of his music here.
Episode 1: You Are Gods
We begin our new series with a reminder of the thread weaving throughout the podcast this year: What are the forces that divide human beings and their communities? And where does the possibility of overcoming that division live? In many ways, our sense of identity is at the core of what divides us. In this first conversation, Jonah and Patrick explore the nature of identity formation and begin to develop a biblical picture of the true identity of the human self. What makes human beings human - our ego - is itself an identity power, a power to identify. But what is it we choose to identify with and why? The moment our motive is LOVE, then we are dwelling in God and God in us. Is it possible that we find the truest version of ourselves in devoted communion with God? These are the themes of our series “Identity and Idolatry.”
Episode 2: You Are…the Light of the World
In this second episode of our series, Patrick and Jonah begin to look at the dynamic relationship that exists between who Christ Jesus is as a being - his identity - and the mystery around human identity, as it is laid out in the gospels. Christ’s identity is both itself and a revelation of another being, the Father. He creates for us the possibility of our true identity being restored in direct relationship to all that lives in Him. He is the Light of the World. Can our own moral substance, the actions we take out of love, radiate His light into the world?
Episode 3: You Are...an Empty Image?
The third episode of our series begins with the question of identity considered through the lens of cultural anthropology and postmodernism. These disciplines consider how human beings construct identity, but conclude that it is impossible to come to know absolute truth. We can only know the images that we ourselves or others generate. This perspective agrees in many ways with what Patrick and Jonah then take up: an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Rudolf Steiner’s book Theosophy. The human “I” is an identifier, but this can be understood as a receptacle. Within it lies the capacity to overcome separation and emptiness by opening itself up to receive a higher content.
Episode 4: I am...You?
The fourth episode of our series on identity and idolatry leads further into Rudolf Steiner’s search for the eternal human self. Jonah and Patrick describe how Steiner searched intensively for many years to directly experience this ‘ego’ or self. This led to a deep spiritual crisis. But it was in this place of emptiness and utter powerlessness that the True Self found him—a dynamic mystery, at once both other and yet himself. Rudolf Steiner described this moment in his life as “standing before the Mystery of Golgotha in a most holy sacred rite of knowledge” (’erkenntnisfeier’). His devoted striving over many years led to this encounter with Christ, or the one he would later call the Representative of Humanity. From then on, his work flowed from the font of this direct experience and strove to reveal Christ as the one from whom human beings receive their true, eternal self as a gift of grace.
Episode 5: You are...Love
In this episode, Jonah and Patrick contemplate Love's part in the mystery of identity and how this is revealed in Christ's path to the cross. The very human desire for love is with us from the beginning but it is a long journey to find the rightful home and fulfillment of that desire. The mystery of the cross reveals to us one of the great secrets of love—“I have come to suffer with you.” Through his suffering at the hands of those he loves and his forgiveness of them, we are given a picture of the highest expression of love and the fulfillment of the True Human Being on earth.
Episode 6: We are…Whole
In this sixth episode of our series, Jonah and Patrick explore the interplay between icons and idols, working together in the formation of identity. We, developing human beings, are free to choose what we love and strive to become. Idols are necessary for our freedom and the schooling of a mature love, one that has been tested. This is where Christ comes in and how he approaches us—as a true icon. He is the image and expression of the True Human Being. The Gospel, with all its many characters and drama, can reveal who we are in relation to Jesus Christ, the True Human Being. The Gospel can then reveal the story of our own becoming, a blueprint or map guiding us into wholeness through Him.
Episode 7: We are…Worshipers
In the latest episode of our “Identity and Idolatry” series, Patrick and Jonah look at the soul activity commonly referred to as worship and how it relates to identity formation. Worship can broadly be described as seeking something greater than ourselves and becoming immersed in it to such a degree that it fundamentally transforms us. We live in a time when we are free as never before to choose what we devote ourselves to. Can we become more conscious of what are we worshipping? Do we have the courage to be honest with ourselves about the idols we are serving? Our prayer life shifts to center stage as we strive to connect ourselves in living worship to the divine reality we strive to unite with. The life of worship becomes a constant living prayer.
Episode 8: We are…Wounded
Patrick and Jonah conclude the ”Identity and Idolatry” series by looking at two contrasting pictures of fulfilled identity, the Wounded Lamb (Rev 5) and the Wounded Beast (Rev 13). Human beings have each of these potentialities within us. Our wounds lead us towards the lamb path or the beast path. Moment to moment we can choose who we align ourselves with—who we serve. It is a continual process to refine our powers of discernment: what are the forces acting in and upon us? As we gradually become more Lamb-like, we find the joy that comes in freely pouring ourselves out in devotional offering, and thereby we join a choir of worshippers, singing a song of praise and thanksgiving (Rev 5: 11-14).
